PRIME TIME

PRIME TIME

BITE THE WAX TADPOLE

by

Richard C. Walls

�ANOTHER WORLD� PRE-EMPTED!: As I write this in early December, the Reagan administration is slowly unraveling, a spectacle which leaves me tickled pink. Part of that tickled feeling may just be nostalgia—this is my second unraveling— but part of it is a realization that U.S. government funds to the Contra terrorists will likely be finally terminated. It�s almost enough to restore my faith in a just world (but not quite). Still, despite my momentary happiness, I realize it�s possible that by the time this appears in print the whole thing will have blown over—after six years of hands-off, a lot of people are going to be too rusty to press the advantage they now have. On the other hand, they may impeach the bum.

ANOTHER BLAST FROM THE PAST!: And speaking of Conspiracy Theories, or CTs, it�s important to keep in mind that there are certain rules which have to be followed—not just any string of provocative accusations will suffice.

One of the all time great cataclysmic generators of CTs was the President Kennedy assassination, an historical event which is, I suspect, to many CREEM readers only somewhat less distant in time than the Lewis and Clark expedition. That Lee Harvey Oswald, classic alienated loner and commie symp, pulled off this job singlehandedly, has always been hard for people to swallow—surely he at least had help, either from the CIA, or anti-Castro Cubans, or the Soviet Union, or a shadowy consortium of right-wing billionaires...or maybe he was just a fall guy for one or more of the above.

I can�t begin to suggest the richness of the Kennedy CTs in the space I have here, but I would like to report that Showtime reopened this whole can of worms last November by presenting On Trial: Lee Harvey Oswald, a five-and-a-half-hour presentation during which Oswald was tried in absentia. The jury was real, the judge was real, the witnesses were real (the most interesting aspect of the show) and the lawyers were weird. Presenting the government�s case against Oswald was Vincent Bugliosi, famous Manson trial prosecutor and author of Helter Skelter. Bugliosi�s approach was abrasive and overconfident—he came on like a Drill Instructor to those witnesses who didn�t help his case, and quickly (very quickly) shepherded those that did through their paces. By contrast, defense attorney Gary Spence affected a theatrical folksiness that was painfully embarrassing to watch.

Still, despite the showboating lawyers and limited time, a lot of information did come out, and it was soon obvious that what was on trial was not the late Oswald but the government�s credibility. To accept the Official Story of the assassination requires a certain amount of faith. And sure enough the Texan jury, a Godfearing bunch almost by definition, voted Oswald guilty as charged. But a live phone-in poll conducted during the last halfhour of the show (before the jury�s verdict was revealed) turned out a little different: 85 percent—innocent; 15 percent— guilty.

Maybe the only moral here is that Showtime watchers are flipper than Texan juries. But the unsettling effect of the phone poll was well-conveyed during the show�s last few minutes when host and kindly establishment personage Edwin Newman, obviously stunned by this outcome, said: �Those of us connected with this show fully expected the poll results to turn out the opposite of the way they have.� You could tell he was vamping—any neat conclusions he might have prepared for this spot, something about the system and how all�s right with the country, basically, wouldn�t quite fit now. Then, after a few awkward repetitions of the results and saying what a big surprise it was, he just shuffled some papers and said good night.

A couple days later Irangate broke.